“Okay, everyone. Entering the vaults will be claustrophobic and uncomfortable. Let us know if you want to come back. Try walking alone, you might get lost,” Claire, a tour guide working at one of the dozens, firmly warns. Agencies offering ghost tours in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.
The “vaults” the guide refers to are damp and suffocating galleries that make up the centuries-old underground city. There are many hatches connected by wide and narrow corridors, which have a reputation for being the worst place in the UK, and it has had many in the past. Individuals From Edinburgh.
These dark galleries were once home to people who couldn’t get to the streets. Thieves, murderers, gypsies, whores. Everything that Scottish society dislikes is hidden here.
Today, you only need to walk a few meters into the center of Edinburgh to bump into an agency offering popular horror tours. A hit with tourists, the excursions, which cost an average of £15, are a must for anyone looking to discover the darker side of Scotland’s history.
Tours, often on foot, begin with tourists meeting at a predetermined meeting point. Guides take the group to the most famous sites, telling stories that explain why Edinburgh is known as a ghost town.
“In this square, women accused of witchcraft were burned”, “this is where thieves cut off their hands”, “the legal age in Edinburgh is eight.”
‘Vaults’, underground galleries in Edinburgh, Scotland
Image: Reproduction
History of the Underground City
Edinburgh’s Underground City is a terrifying tourist attraction that has been forgotten for decades. The galleries were rediscovered only in 1980, when a resident discovered the lost city while breaking down walls to renovate his house.
Many items such as plates, cutlery, cups, shoes and human bones were found in the underground galleries, indicating that hundreds of people lived in this place in the past.
The main attraction for tourists visiting the underground city of Edinburgh is that the galleries are actually the arches of a bridge. Built in 1785, the South Bridge is 300 meters long and has 19 arches, which served as a shelter for the poor class of people at that time.
Edinburgh Waltz: Prepare yourself for a dark and claustrophobic ride
Image: Kjetil Bjørnsrud/WikiCommons
The bridge was built to level a slope in the city. On top of that, many businesses opened up, making the area one of the most controversial places in Scotland.
Initially, traders used the underground arches of the bridge to store goods, but they abandoned this practice due to the humidity, and the arches were occupied by unsanitary people for decades, until the arches were finally closed. Half of the 19th century.
A dramatic curiosity that reinforces the macabre tone of the scene is that the first person to cross the South Bridge is dead. According to documents from the time, Edinburgh’s high society chose the wife of an influential judge to be the first person to cross the bridge. A few days before the event, the girl would have died without explanation, and her wedding ended in the opening of the newly built bridge.
Part of the structure of Edinburgh’s galleries, the ‘Waltz’
Image: Kjetil Bjørnsrud/WikiCommons
witch hunt
The infamous underground city of Edinburgh is one of the elements that has given the Scottish capital its reputation for being haunted. According to historical records, between the 16th and 17th centuries, Edinburgh was one of the cities in Europe that tortured and killed women accused of witchcraft the most.
For those interested in the subject, the National Museum of Scotland offers full sessions telling the story of witch hunts, which usually took place during times of crisis and social upheaval.
‘Vaults’, underground galleries in Edinburgh, Scotland
Image: Reproduction
Tourniquets, spiked barrels and sharp spears are some of the torture devices used during the period that survive to tell the tale.
It is estimated that at least 4,000 Scots were tortured and killed for breaking the Witchcraft Act between 1563 and 1736, and 85% of these were women.
The country does not regard persecution as a taboo, and even today Scottish authorities routinely apologize for the past. In her Women’s Day speech, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “It is an injustice of the greatest magnitude, at least misogyny in its most literal sense, driven by hatred of women.
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